BOOKS | Review: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Name: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

Author: Sangu Mandanna

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Date published: August 2022

Genre: Fiction, adult, fantasy, romance, contemporary, paranormal

Pages: 336

Rating: 5/5

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules... With one exception: an online account, where she posts videos "pretending" to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.
But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and… Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.
As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for....

- From Goodreads.

This was a very sweet, heartwarming book that really got to my emotions and made me very happy to read. It had a good balance of lighthearted and serious moments and had a really joyful conclusion.

The descriptions of the setting, atmosphere and magic were all wonderful to read. I could really picture everything and felt really immersed in every scene. I loved how the magic was described, it was really exciting and fun and the author really showed how much Mika loved her magic and her joy of sharing her magic with other characters was so lovely and sweet.

I loved Mika as a main character, she had a great way of thinking about the world and she was so thoughtful and sensitive towards other people. Her relationships with the other characters were all interesting, and all of the other characters felt realistic and well rounded. Her romantic relationship with Jamie and the way everything developed between them was so perfect and I thought the way they communicated and how they treated each other with kindness was so nice to read and I really believed the feelings between them.

I really enjoyed the plot, there was a lot of room for character development and plenty of moments that helped build the relationships between the characters. There were some great funny moments as well as some really emotional and heartfelt ones. Overall it was a great story and everything I could want from a cosy fantasy romance.

BOOKS | Review: A Duel with the Vampire Lord by Elise Kova

Name: A Duel with the Vampire Lord (Married to Magic series #3)

Author: Elise Kova

Publisher: Silver Wing Press

Date published: August 2022

Genre: Fiction, adult, fantasy, romance, retellings, fairy tales

Pages: 421

Rating: 3/5

This review contains mild spoilers.

 

On the night of the blood moon, the Vampire Lord must die.
Floriane's position as the forge maiden of Hunter's Hamlet is one of reverence, for it is her skill that arms and protects the vampire hunters. She knows her place and is a faithful servant to the Master Hunter and her community... until the night of the blood moon. Until her brother is dying at the hands of the Vampire Lord Ruvan.
Wanting to defend her home at all costs, Floriane fights the vampire lord, ready to give her life if it means taking his. But Ruvan doesn't want to take her life... he wants her.
Kidnapped and brought to the vampire castle, Floriane is now blood sworn to the vampire lord. She is bound in mind and body to her worst enemy. But Ruvan isn't the fiend she thought he was. She learns the truth of the vampires: They are not mindless monsters, but a proud people, twisted and tortured by an ancient curse.
Ruvan believes that Floriane might be the key to ending his people's suffering. All Floriane wants is to defend her home. Loyalties are tested and the lines between truth and lie, hate and passion, are blurred.
When her dagger is at his chest, will she be able to take the heart of the man who has claimed hers?

- From Goodreads.

The way that A Duel with the Vampire Lord expanded the world of the Married to Magic series was interesting. The concept for the vampires in this world was fascinating, how they used blood for magic, each had unique abilities and were also under a curse. It was a different twist on vampires, but I felt it was not always executed smoothly and the explanations could be a little confusing.

The rules for the magic were also occasionally inconsistent, it was only a few small times but it was obvious enough that I noticed straight away so it seemed like the book could have used another round of edits to catch those kind of world building details.

I noticed the main character, Floriane, had a few similar personality traits to the main characters from the other books in this world, and her relationship journey with the love interest, Ruvan, felt similar to the way that the relationships in those other books developed too. It was different enough that I could still enjoy it as its own story, and I knew from the summary that it would be an enemies to lovers story, so I was not disappointed by that trope appearing again, and I think if you have not read any of the other books in this world yet it will not feel too similar to anything else, but it does feel like a pattern is beginning to develop with these books and if they continue with the same type of relationship it could get repetitive. As I said, I could still like the characters and relationship in this one, but I hope in the next one we get something a little different with a change in the dynamic between the characters.

I understood why Floriane was keeping things from Ruvan during the first part of the book because she could not trust him enough to open up to him and she thought she could protect her home that way, but I did not understand why Ruvan was not telling her more sooner since he wanted to persuade her over to his point of view and make her understand the vampire's side of the story, and yet he was not explaining everything. I understand it is best to slowly give out pieces of information rather than tell it to us all at once, but from the vampire's point of view I could not see why he was not explaining as much as he could.

This may be a strange comment but it was distracting that for a while at the beginning of the book, several days seemed to pass without any mention of Floriane washing or changing her clothes or even taking off her amour. I know some people do not mind those kind of details but I always find I notice them and this made me think again that the book could have done with more editing and including even just one mention of her taking a moment to freshen up would have stopped me wondering if she was just wearing the same clothes for several days. It is true that they were in dangerous situations a lot but there were enough opportunites where she could have taken a moment to safely change. She was covered in blood from fighting at one point and it was never so much as implied that she ever washed the blood off at any time.

I did like the setting and atmosphere of the book, it was good to read at the beginning of October when the weather was getting colder and the nights were turning darker. Everything was described well and the vampires' castle felt very grand and imposing and sinister. That was all certainly a highlight of the book.

The dialogue did not always flow easily or feel natural, and I think that was one of the things that lead to me not feeling the emotions in the relationship as much as I would have liked to and it did not have as much impact as it could have had. I still liked the relationship overall but did not not really feel the chemistry between them that strongly. The strongest emotion I felt between them was when they were angry at each other and then I just got frustrated that they were not communicating well.

There were a few things set up at the start that felt like the beginning of a plot thread or like it was sending the plot in one direction or something that would be picked up later but never was, or was not seen through in a satisfying way. For example the plot point of Floriane being a forge maiden who was supposed to have an arranged marriage so she could have children to be future forge maidens and how this would secure the future and safety of the village, how she was not supposed to be with other men because of this, how she felt guilt and pressure around that, this was included from the beginning but not built up or developed throughout the story well enough to feel like a satisfying theme, it was only mentioned every so often. Some plot points in general were hard to follow, to remember where details came from or how characters had come to certain conclusions. Some of the conflict felt forced, as the plot points seemed to be added in because they needed to be, not because it was a natural progression of the story.

There was also not a lot of groundwork or foreshadowing or hints laid for the reveals towards the end of the book, they seemed to come out of nowhere. I also felt the plot was paced quite strangely, it felt like quite a long book, especially compared to the previous two, but the climax seemed to come on suddenly and sooner than expected. The conclusion after the climax could have been longer, it wrapped up everything pretty quickly and it would have been nice to just have a bit more time with the characters once everything was resolved. After seeing Ruvan and Floriane spending so much time in conflict and dealing with obstacles, we hardly got to see them together happily.

I was excited for this book, it had a lot of great ideas and I thought adding vampires to this world would be really exciting but unfortunately the ideas did not land very well in most cases. There was a lot of potential but it was not quite reached. I could still see myself rereading it at some point in the future as I may understand the plot better on a second read and perhaps I would like the book better then, and I will still be reading the next book in the world, as I am curious about what might happen in that one and how else this world might expand.

BOOKS | Review: Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

Name: Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales series #1)

Author: Olivia Atwater

Publisher: Orbit

Date published: June 2022

Genre: Fiction, adult, fantasy, romance, historical, fairy tales

Pages: 304

Rating: 5/5

It's difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you're a young lady with only half a soul.

Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment - a condition which makes her prone to accidental scandal. Dora hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season - but when the strange, handsome and utterly uncouth Lord Sorcier discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into dangerous and peculiar faerie affairs.

If Dora's reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world... but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.

- From Goodreads.

This book was just utterly wonderful. It left me feeling so happy and overall was just such a joy to read. The idea for the story felt very unique and an interesting storyline to follow. I thought the fact that Dora had half her soul taken from her and this left her unable to feel emotions as strongly and to react like other people was written very well and felt very creative. I could still connect to Dora and found her to be very loveable and endearing. She was very complex and self aware and I loved following her development. I also loved her relationships with the other characters in the story. Her friendship with her cousin Vanessa was so heartwarming and it was so lovely to see two female characters so devoted to each other and who were such a good comfort to each other and could be such a good influence on each other.

I also really loved Dora's romance with the Lord Sorcier, Elias, the way the relationship between them changed and grew was done so well. I loved the affection they had for each other and how the dialogue between them was so charming and witty. I think they have definitely become one of my favourite fictional couples already.

Another character I loved was Elias' friend Albert, he was a wonderful part of the story and it was lovely to see him becoming friends with Dora and them helping and supporting each other.

I thought the book did a great job of showing all the different parts of society. Dora and Vanessa faced difficulties being women of their social class at that time, especially Dora who found herself a bit of an outcast when she could not behave the way she was expected to, but they also saw the hardships of people who lived different lives to them and I thought all the discussions around that in the story were well done. I also liked that there was an overall theme in the book that said that we might not be able to change all the bad in society all at once but you can keep doing your best to do something yourself and you can still make some positive difference.

I liked how magic was involved in the story. The descriptions of how Elias used magic were always so enjoyable to read and I also enjoyed the elements of faerie folklore that were in the book and how they were used, they made it very mysterious and enchanting.

Overall it really was a fantastic book. I loved every moment and will definitely read it again and read more from this author. I would recommend this book if you liked Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones or An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson.

BOOKS | Review: Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft

Name: Down Comes the Night

Author: Allison Saft

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Date published: March 2021

Genre: Fiction, young adult, fantasy, romance, gothic, mystery

Pages: 400

Rating: 4/5

He saw the darkness in her magic. She saw the magic in his darkness.

Wren Southerland’s reckless use of magic has cost her everything: she’s been dismissed from the Queen’s Guard and separated from her best friend - the girl she loves. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate, Colwick Hall, to cure his servant from a mysterious illness, she seizes her chance to redeem herself.

The mansion is crumbling, icy winds haunt the caved-in halls, and her eccentric host forbids her from leaving her room after dark. Worse, Wren’s patient isn’t a servant at all but Hal Cavendish, the infamous Reaper of Vesria and her kingdom’s sworn enemy. Hal also came to Colwick Hall for redemption, but the secrets in the estate may lead to both of their deaths.

With sinister forces at work, Wren and Hal realize they’ll have to join together if they have any hope of saving their kingdoms. But as Wren circles closer to the nefarious truth behind Hal’s illness, they realize they have no escape from the monsters within the mansion. All they have is each other, and a startling desire that could be their downfall.

- From Goodreads.

The author built a very interesting world to set this book in. It felt very atmospheric and every scene was described in such detail that it really came alive on the page. I could really imagine everything the main character described and all the different places she visited. The best place of course was Colwick Hall, I really felt how haunted and cold the mansion seemed to the characters and how unsafe they felt there.

I really liked the relationship between the main character and her love interest, I think they had such an interesting dynamic and I really liked how things slowly built between them. I thought that it was good that Wren was allowed to feel emotional and Hal made sure she knew that and did not make her feel weak for feeling anything, and he really appreciated her kindness. Not a lot of books have this because in fantasy worlds where there is war or other difficult things to face, characters are often made to feel like their kindness or other "soft" emotions will make them weak in a tough world and the idea that acts of kindness could actually help is dismissed as unrealistic, but Wren was allowed to be kind and emotional and make things right in the end and help change things with her kindness and without loosing her emotional side. This idea and theme was not always done perfectly throughout the book, but mostly I really liked it and was glad it was included.

Although I enjoyed the plot and thought it was captivating to follow the mystery through to the end, I think it could have been made into a more concise story. Towards the end it felt like the plot was going back and forth a few times, making the same point a couple of times over, which I felt was down to the main character being indecisive and unsure when it really felt like she should have already come to a decision or realistion about certain things. This led to it feeling like the story could have wrapped up a little sooner, and while I did enjoy how the story ended and what happened in the final few scenes, I think the impact was lost slightly because it felt like the story had been stretched out for the sake of adding a little more angst.

Overall, I did really like this book, I thought it had an intriguing mystery, atmospheric setting, well written characters and a compelling romance. I would recommend it if you liked Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson or The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid.

BOOKS | Review: The Mask Falling by Samantha Shannon

Name: The Mask Falling (The Bone Season series #4)

Author: Samantha Shannon

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Date published: January 2021

Genre: Fiction, adult, fantasy, science fiction, dystopian, paranormal, urban fantasy

Pages: 528

Rating: 4/5

 

Dreamwalker Paige Mahoney has eluded death again. Snatched from the jaws of captivity and consigned to a safe house in the Scion Citadel of Paris, she finds herself caught between those factions that seek Scion's downfall and those who would kill to protect the Rephaim's puppet empire.
The mysterious Domino Program has plans for Paige, but she has ambitions of her own in this new citadel. With Arcturus Mesarthim - her former enemy - at her side, she embarks on an adventure that will lead her from the catacombs of Paris to the glittering hallways of Versailles. Her risks promise high reward: the Parisian underworld could yield the means to escalate her rebellion to outright war.
As Scion widens its bounds and the free world trembles in its shadow, Paige must fight her own memories after her ordeal at the hands of Scion. Meanwhile, she strives to understand her bond with Arcturus, which grows stronger by the day. But there are those who know the revolution began with them - and could end with them...

- From Goodreads.

I really loved the descriptions of Paris in this book, it was a wonderful place to set the book and all the details were so well written and nicely placed in the story. I love it when a setting feels like a character in a book, London felt really alive in the previous books and Paris felt just as full of soul in this one too.

Sometimes it did feel like things were done to make the plot move forward, rather than because it made sense for the world or characters. For example, mostly I did agree with Paige's decisions, or at least understood them, but a couple of times it almost felt like she did things because the plot needed her to, and it did not match what she would do given her experience and what she had learnt in the previous books. But this only happened a small amount of times and it did not ruin my enjoyment of the story too much.

I liked that Paige felt the effects of the things that happened to her, both physically and mentally, how that was acknowledged and how she needed to take the time to recover and feel stronger again, and even when she felt better she was still affected by the memories of what had happened. I really felt all of her emotions around that and thought it was written very well.

The story continued to be unpredictable, as all the other books in the series have been so far. There were plot twists and surprises from beginning to end and it certainly kept me intrigued and trying to solve the mysteries all the way through. I liked that there were different layers to the story and different plot threads and storylines taking place at the same time, it was all woven together very intricately.

The ending of the book was especially well done, plot twist after plot twist, all completely surprising, with an epic finalé that suddenly appeared to leave you shocked and stunned. It was nothing I could have expected and it was thrilling to read.

Overall, even though there were a few small moments I had problems with, it was still an incredibly impressive book that answered so many questions that the previous books had asked while also setting up so many potential pathways for the rest of the series. I am so curious to see what will happen in the rest of the books and I am sure Samantha Shannon will continue to surprise me as she has already amazed me so much so far.

BOOKS | Review: The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon

Name: The Song Rising (The Bone Season series #3)

Author: Samantha Shannon

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Date published: March 2017 (this edition March 2018)

Genre: Fiction, adult, science fiction, fantasy, dystopia, urban fantasy, paranormal

Pages: 363

Rating: 4/5

A rebel who becomes a queen
The hotly anticipated third book in the bestselling Bone Season series—a ground-breaking, dystopian fantasy of extraordinary imagination following a bloody battle against foes on every side, Paige Mahoney has risen to the dangerous position of Underqueen, ruling over London's criminal population.
But, having turned her back on Jaxon Hall and with vengeful enemies still at large, the task of stabilising the fractured underworld has never seemed so challenging.
Little does Paige know that her reign may be cut short by the introduction of Senshield, a deadly technology that spells doom for the clairvoyant community and the world as they know it...

- From Goodreads.

As this is the third book in the series, I liked that the elements of the worldbuilding were changed up and new parts were introduced, each instalment seems to bring something different and unique which keeps it interesting and exciting. The characters were put into new situations and there was always something unpredictable happening. The world was expanded and we learnt so much more about what existed outside of the lives and communities that Paige and the characters around her had already known.

On the subject of characters, they continued to be really well written and fascinating. Paige is still a great main character to follow, and I am always on her side, hoping she will make it through and succeed. She went through a lot of difficult things in this book, and it was incredible to read how she persevered and survived, even through the worst. I also really like a lot of the side characters, especially Nick and Eliza. I hope we will see more of them both in future books in the series and hopefully there will be more development in Paige and Eliza's friendship. Nick and Paige's bond is already so strong it made my heart ache, I even cried at one scene between them towards the end of the book.

There were quite a few emotional moments in the book, and although not all of them made me cry like that one, they all got to me and really made me feel on behalf of Paige and the other characters involved.

The writing in the book was well done and balanced the emotional, poignant moments with dramatic and shocking ones, some calm ones, and even a few nice humourous moments. So while I was invested and felt the emotions of the story, I was not too overwhelmed and enjoyed the reading experience.

The only things that stopped me from giving it a full five stars were a few minor things, some character interactions where I did not feel the emotions or just did not connect with the moment, and a couple of moments where the exposition did not feel like it fitted as smoothly into the story as it could have done. Otherwise, I really liked this instalment in the series and am excited, if quite nervous, to move onto the next one!

BOOKS | Review: The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

Name: The Mime Order (The Bone Season series #2)

Author: Samantha Shannon

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Date published: January 2015 (this edition February 2017)

Genre: Fiction, adult, science fiction, fantasy, dystopia, paranormal, urban fantasy

Pages: 501

Rating: 4/5

This review contains mild spoilers.

It is a dark time for clairvoyants. Scion is in league with the Rephaim, an extraordinarily powerful, otherworldly race that intends to make humans its slaves.

In an unprecedented feat of bravery, Paige Mahoney has succeeded in leading a mass break-out from the brutal camp, Sheol I, where she and other clairvoyants were systematically imprisoned.

Paige is desperate to reach the safety of the London underworld, but the ruthless leader of the Rephaim, Nashira Sargas, is not likely to let her escape so easily…

- From Goodreads.

I thought The Mime Order continued the series in a really exciting way, adding some really intriguing elements to the plot and expanding the world in more fascinating detail.

There was a lot of mystery to the story in this book which I found to be completely unpredictable, I really had no idea what was going to happen next and thought all the plot threads were woven together well. The extra twist at the end of the book also set up an extra layer to what I thought would be the plot of the next book, and makes me all the more eager to pick up the next in the series.

We were introduced to more characters in this book, all of them with interesting parts to play in the story, who felt real and created engaging character dynamics and interactions. One thing I would have liked to see more of was the escapees from Sheol I having a bigger part to play and seeing more of them in the book, since they were so involved in the first one I did feel like I missed them in this one. A few of them did get to play an important part, but I would have liked to see Paige have a connection to more of them and keep in more contact with them, since no one else really knew what she went through when she was captured. Of course she did interact with the rebel Rephaim in this book and although they were somewhat on her side, they still did not really understand her as the other captive voyants would have.

On a similar note, the main weakness of this book and the reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars was because of Paige's romance with Warden. I still did not really feel their connection and thought I would have liked them more as reluctant allies or almost friends at this point instead of already developing a romance when I was still feeling the anger on behalf of Paige over how he treated her in the first book and still did not like some the ways he behaved in this one. I understood that he was Rephaim and would not act human but I could not excuse the things I did not like or understand Paige's feelings for him, but I might have liked it if it had happened later in the series.

However, since this was not the main plot of the book it did not ruin my enjoyment of the story and I still found plenty to enjoy about it. Paige continued to develop her skills with her clairvoyancy and we learnt more about the other types of clairvoyancy too in this book and I found that all fascinating and I think it still continues to be one of the most unique parts of this series.

Overall, this was a thrilling and riveting book that kept me wondering what would happen until the very end. It was all written in great detail with some really captivating character relationships and I am very excited to continue with the series and to see what happens next.